MUD - An LGBT+ Story

Year 9 - Many Options No Choices

The year of hell was over, no more Year 8 and no longer unlucky 13, it was time to face the different choices and options I had to make, the responsibilities of a 14 year old. My form teacher was Mr Kelly from Art and our form was his art classroom which was situated in one of the newer extension blocks to the side of the main building and was shaped like a square which had two floors, the art classrooms were all on the ground floor. It was bright, light, airy with lots of colourful painting and sculptures from students around the edges of the room this generated an optimistic start to the day totally the opposite feel to the dingy craft room. Mr Kelly was no nonsense and very sharp quashing sarcastic comments and I think he was chosen to be our form teacher to stop some of the group from being as wild as they were throughout last year, although I thought underneath there was a bit of a zany side to him, this impression must've been from his long greying hair which he would move about with his hand, bright red rimmed glasses and colourful thin shirt with the top three button open to revel a plain white t-shirt. The tables were long benches 5 of them in rows and I sat on a stool at the end of the middle table with Steve, Andy and James who were ever present. Looking around the room Claire and Jen were sat a bit further along on the same table with Noah, at the back was John with his loud group who were just the same, obnoxious, not listening and noisy.

"9K the most important year" exclaimed Mr Kelly as he started to walk around the room "You are going to have to choose your options during the term at some point there will be an assembly with the details and lookout for emails, I have no idea the timings right now. I do know you still have to do Maths, English and Science so don't get your hopes up you're not going to have life that easy you know!" Mr Kelly explained in a slightly satirical manner which made me look to Steve and chuckle acknowledging without saying anything Mr Kelly is going to be okay "And may I say that when thinking about Art as an option subject, remember who your form tutor is! Are you understanding John? You don't look like you're paying attention" Mr Kelly placed both paint stained hands on the table in front of John and glared at him, John's face turned into a serious manner instantly and nodded "Yes Sir" which gave me a boost in reassurance. Turning back to the middle of the room Mr Kelly added "As a matter of fact do I really want to teach you in years 10 and 11?" Swivelling around flamboyantly to look directly back at John, that was his card really marked, and I liked it. "Now is not the time to stress about options just yet, first! There is Year 9's week away!" I looked up, did he just say week away? Why on earth is this happening? And my head dropped, the opposite effect happed to the rest of the class there was excitement and a buzz in the air upon hearing the announcement. "Quieten down class! Its planned for the week before half term towards the end of October" Mr Kelly took back control of the excitement and explained the trip in more detail "Before you get all excitable, Noah, the dormitories will be split into boys and girls" Sitting on a stool and moving his long hair over to one side. "These dormitories are split six to a room so after this start deciding on your room mates and complete the information on the website, three weeks to complete, anyone without a room by then will be automatically put in one" Looking at my friends we all nodded to confirm we would be in one dormitory this made four and my mind started to think who else could join us, I hoped John would be with his loud mouth group of friends but it was a concern, then there was Him! I felt sad as since the incident in Games last year Him saying to swap shirts and the way He spoke to me still got to me so I kept my distance whenever possible there was no choice during Geography but I was always wary this made the table conversations limited, so wasn't sure about Him joining us, anyway He will probably be with his own friends. My mind focused back to Mr Kelly I missed something about a coach "Everyone clear on the coach?" A hand went up it was Claire "how long is the journey?" Mr Kelly looked at his notes "good question... only about one hour, hour 15 max and the building is in its own grounds. Now what will you be doing whilst there? You will be in groups based on a specific activity such as photography, sculpture, drama the full list is online, what you need to do is select your order of preference and we will try and put you in your first choice group, again three weeks to complete." I thought is there a stay at home group "Listen class" pulling his glassed down enough so he could look over them "do something you wouldn't think of trying before who knows you might like it" Looking at his watch, which I thought looked rather expensive to be around paints all day, he continued "We have a few minutes before lessons, for the rest of the field trip there will be a variety of workshops which you will rotate between each day covering humanities subjects, History, Geography, Religious Education, Citizenship and Sociology. Thats it from me I know there's lots to take in but we will talk about it again as it's nearly time for the bell so have your question ready for form tomorrow morning" And with precision timing as soon as he finished talking the bell rang. What a great way to start the year having to think about what subjects to choose for my options and a weeks field trip which I wasn't particularly keen on going on in the first place many options but no choices. Unfortunate as far as I could see there was no option to avoid the trip unless I was abducted by aliens which sounded quite appealing at this very moment.

There was just one week left to confirm who would be in our dormitory so me and my friends gathered around the table during lunch to decide on our final plans, we were huddled around like we were plotting world domination. "So Noah is joining our dorm everyone cool with this?" Andy was taking control of the situation, secretly the rest of us were thankful for his initiative and we all agreed to Noah joining us, he was okay and wasn't going to cause any trouble "which leaves us just one place, and we have still been telling John that there's no space? Remember say the dorm is full if he asks!" We had all agreed this was the best way to keep John away "Someone needs to tell Noah" Steve mentioned and waved across the canteen for Noah to join us in our world domination plans. "Sit with us Noah" welcomed Steve and we all said yeah join us "We're talking about the trip and stuff" Andy said in an organised fashion "We want to submit the dorm info today, that okay with you? And any idea on the last place?" Noah smiled and was pleased to be included "sure good idea, don't know who else to ask we could always leave it open and see what school does, it might just be free and will give us more space" There were a few nods from the group but I added "could be risky what if school allocates us someone annoying?" There was a short pause "If we can't think of anyone before tomorrow's form then will have to just go with it" explained Andy "also most people are sorted with places now" We all agreed this was the best option and as a group we were all happy. Noah went on to ask quizzically what groups were wanted to join, Steve's first option was photography, Andy's was photography too, James hadn't decided and I added "Not sure yet drama might be fun but I might do photography with you guys" "ah right, I'm thinking of drama too" smiled Noah, the bell rang which ended our plotting for now and made our way to form before the next lesson, which was English.

The next day arrived and it was time to submit our dormitory information and we couldn't think of anyone for the last place so Andy completed the online page entering our five names leaving one blank space and clicked submit, everyone in the squad were excited but my levels of enthusiasm hadn't been sparked yet, at least I was in the same room as my friends which made me happy. During break I made my way to the library so I could look through the field trip information again and select my preferences for the group I'd like to be in. There were a lot more computers now in the library compared to Year 7 and I noticed Claire and quickly stopped "hey, have you completed the trip information?" She looked around from the computer "Hi, yes all completed, few days ago, put my first choice group as creative writing hope I'm in it, what did you pick?" "oh just in here now to decide" I replied whilst looking around for a free computer "see there's a computer free over there, see you in class" and I took a seat and logged in and started to think about what to choose, honestly my mind felt at ease now the dormitory room was submitted. Looking at the groups which must have been for the thousandth time I though do I choose Photography and hopefully be in the same group as my friends? Not so keen on sculpture and the other choices on the list were creative writing, Drama and something connected to business which narrowed my choices to only really two photograph and Drama although what about creative writing? And what should my first choice be? Still with these questions in my mind I started to to complete the form:

1st choice: Photography

2nd choice: Drama

3rd choice: Creative writing

Suddenly catching my unawares sitting at the computer next to me was Him! "Alright?" He said sheepishly and glancing at my screen "Glad I found you, thought you would be here, not looking through the science books?" He tried to joke but it wasn't the best choice "whats up?" I shunned His attempt at humour, his eyes looked away whilst he spoke "not sure why you're going out of your way to avoid me, anyway umm well have you got your room sorted for the trip? The dorm I mean?" Why was he asking? and he sounded nervous "Yep I'm with Steve, Andy, James and Noah" looking at him trying to work out his motives as He asked "I mean if there's a spare place can I join you?" Trying to hide my shock and surprise at what He'd just asked my voice stuttered "oh, oh I.. I though you would have been all sorted with a room! But you see, well, Adam submitted the names this morning so I don't know how it works now, and need the others to agree too" His expression changed to a look of him desperately trying to work out the best solution "I will talk to them during Games to see if they are cool with me joining you guys and then we can tell our form teachers" he attempted a smile "Okay see if the others are fine" I probably sounded too cold, and what have I just agreed to? I thought that it was probably too late for him to join us anyway, he jumped "thanks, see you in Games" Him mentioning Games reminded me that this was next and wished the ground would swallow me, clicked submit on my form, looked out of the window at the murky and very windy weather and slumped in my chair.